Free Republic

It's a cliche to say that Washington, D.C., is "out of touch" with voters, but there's something to it. Arguably, in 2012, the Republican Party seemed focused on a subject -- debt -- that wasn't a high priority for average Americans. Sincere Republicans (including this columnist) believe it should be. Nations that cannot pay their bills eventually fall into decline, hardship and worse when governments resort to inflation to pay off their debts. It's easier to make small adjustments now than to endure wrenching hardships later. But the voters remain to be convinced. The Democratic Party today is similarly situated...

On this weekend’s “The McLaughlin Group,” Daily Beast columnist Eleanor Clift laid out the same reasoning for the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as Bill Maher had on Friday, which was to still blame the now infamous YouTube video.

In an apparent attempt to divert the media's attention away from the newly released email in which White House adviser Ben Rhodes pushed the "narrative" that a YouTube video caused the attack in Benghazi to then-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice before her round of Sunday talk show appearances on September 16th, 2012, White House press secretary Jay Carney repeatedly insisted to ABC's chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl that Rice also relied on the CIA talking points. On April 2, former CIA deputy Director Michael Morell testified before the House Intelligence Committee that he "reacted very strongly" to a line in...

These emails were not about Benghazi.... Wow. So, we now have the official story. The formerly redacted emails released yesterday were not about Benghazi. They were never intended to shed light on the consulate attack. They were simply about "the broader situation in the middle east." We learned this yesterday, when ABC News' Jon Karl went to war with Press Secretary Jay Carney. Keep in mind, that's an ABC News reporter. Like Ron Fournier before him, leftist progs can't label him a right wing hack, and they can't start yapping about FOX News. Every network news outlet was lied to,...

Newly-released emails: "Video" to blame, "not a broader failure or policy." Newly-released documents reveal direct White House involvement in steering the public narrative about the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, toward that of a spontaneous protest that never happened. One of the operative documents, which the government had withheld from ​Congress and reporters for a year and a half, is an internal September 14, ​2012 email to White House press officials from Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s ​Assistant and Deputy National Security Advisor. (Disclosure:Ben Rhodes ​is the brother of David Rhodes, the President of CBS News, where I...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on April 18, 2014, it obtained 41 new Benghazi-related State Department documents. They include a newly declassified email showing then-White House Deputy Strategic Communications Adviser Ben Rhodes and other Obama administration public relations officials attempting to orchestrate a campaign to “reinforce” President Obama and to portray the Benghazi consulate terrorist attack as being “rooted in an Internet video, and not a failure of policy.” Other documents show that State Department officials initially described the incident as an “attack” a possible kidnap attempt. The documents were released Friday as result of a June...

Newly released emails on the Benghazi terror attack suggest a senior White House aide played a central role in preparing former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice for her controversial Sunday show appearances -- where she wrongly blamed protests over an Internet video. More than 100 pages of documents were released to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Among them was a Sept. 14, 2012, email from Ben Rhodes, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. The Rhodes email, with the subject line: "RE: PREP Call with...

Well, I will do it if no one else will. Beck is imploring us to drop the hate and anger. First, I don't believe it was anger in my heart that made me want to rush to Bundy's side upon learning SWAT teams were terrorizing him and his family. I do believe it was love for my grandchildren and their posterity than made me consider putting my life on the line. I do believe that nonviolence requires several things to work. Ghandi knew his "audience" was the folks back in England who would find violence against him and his abhorrent....

Protesters gathered at the site of a Hillary Clinton event in San Diego. The group included Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith who was one of four Americans killed in a terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Smith says she holds Clinton accountable for what happened to her son. "They abandoned my son," she said. "And that's exactly what it was, an abandonment. They abandoned the guys on the roof top also. Please everybody, don't let Hillary be president. Don't let Hillary be president, whatever you do!"

1) 1 In 4 Voters Already Know Someone Who Has Lost Insurance because of Obamacare: One in four Americans have either lost their health insurance because of Obamacare or know someone who has, according to a new poll shared first with The Daily Caller. The YG Network Congressional District Poll of 1,652 likely voters in 11 competitive U.S. House districts indicates Obamacare will be a powerful issue that motivates voters in important races in 2014. Twenty-seven percent of respondents claimed knowing someone or personally receiving a health-insurance cancellation notice. 2) Almost all of the people signing up for Obamacare lost...

Former CIA Director Mike Morell may have altered the Benghazi talking points to benefit the Obama administration during the 2012 election, Catherine Herridge of Fox News reports. On September 15 one day before Susan Rice made her infamous appearances on various Sunday shows, according to the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report Morell received an email from the CIA station chief in Libya indicating the Benghazi attacks were “not/not an escalation of protests.” The report does not indicate when Morell read the email, but that same day Morell cut the word “Islamic” from the talking points and left the word “demonstration.”

Many of our Soldiers in Afghanistan are required to carry this paper in a pocket at all times. Troops are expected to memorize the talking points and cough them up to any journalists coming through. We decided to help headquarters spread their message. Many complaints about poor morale are coming from Afghanistan. Most troops are kept on base, where they undergo mindless inspections and even small ‘parades’, and of course rocket and mortar strikes. It has been estimated that in 2014, the cost to taxpayers to keep one troop in Afghanistan for one year will be more than $2 million....

Turkey Day Talking Points-FReepers Unite Hey all you keyboard activists! You blog, bump, reply and post. You wordsmith, criticize, edify and GIF. You are overeducated and under-motivated, but now, you can make a bigger difference. It's time for you to do your part on this Thanksgiving Holiday. You know all those LIV's (low information voters) and cherished independents you will see this long weekend. Well, they need a dose of reality to wash down the stuffing and mashed potatoes. Forget the lectures, the name dropping, the quotes, the diatribes and the references to obscure texts and authors. Keep it simple...

I was perusing through the news and saw many articles on the horrific destruction the storm in the Philippines had wrought. As I reading through the stories at Google, yahoo News, the term 'Climate Negotiator' kept on appearing in article after article. Well, I had no idea what a Climate Negotiator is, does. I mean, trying to negotiate with the climate seems a sissyphean task if not the most mentally stable thing to attempt. I tried searching Google, Yahoo for some precise meaning, job description for a Climate Negotiator but information was far and few between. It seems it is...

There needs to be a concerted effort to drive home Obama's mendacity on all policies by using his own pet phrases. Examples: On 2nd amendment issues... "What Obama is saying is, 'If you like your guns, you can keep your guns.'" On Coal production and usage... "What Obama is saying is, 'If you like your coal related job, you can keep your coal related job...'" ...And so on and so forth. We need his (and by extension, Democrats in general) credibility shattered for the midterms. 

I do not do “vanities” much at all, basically never. This is “activism” and it is in the right place, the news activism forum! (I did check "vanity" though.)If he wasn’t DEAD, this approach might be Saul Alinsky’s corollary to one of his creepy fascist tactics. We all should take this approach more often in this simplistic dumbed down sound byte 140 character world.Rule #666 corollary:  "Simplify every argument for morons (our constituency).” So with that in mind, OK, here is a free, simple talking point for tomorrow and onward, which may be simple enough even for Democrats to understand.(Umm...

House Democrats downplayed the significance of problems facing ObamaCare's enrollment system after their first post-rollout meeting with administration officials. Democratic lawmakers appeared upbeat after leaving a presentation from Gary Cohen, a key figure in ObamaCare's implementation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). "We didn't work our hearts out for a website," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), quoting House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "The route in, that's a technical issue that we think is being solved," Schakowsky said. There was also no discussion of delaying ObamaCare's individual mandate, according to members — a possibility that's been floated...

House Democrats downplayed the significance of problems facing ObamaCare's enrollment system after their first post-rollout meeting with administration officials. Democratic lawmakers appeared upbeat after leaving a presentation from Gary Cohen, a key figure in ObamaCare's implementation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). "We didn't work our hearts out for a website," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), quoting House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "The route in, that's a technical issue that we think is being solved," Schakowsky said. There was also no discussion of delaying ObamaCare's individual mandate, according to members — a possibility that's been floated...

Mike Hash, who directs the Office of Health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, will brief House Democrats Wednesday about implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The closed-door session, which will start at 8:50 a.m., marks the first time the administration will have briefed members of Congress on the online enrollment system since its troubled rollout on Oct. 1.

With the threat of a government shutdown looming over a conservative battle to defund Obamacare, tensions on Washington are reaching a fever pitch. It was with that likely in mind when Nancy Pelosi opened up to POLITICO about Republican hatred of President Obama. She said she’s never seen anything quite like it before, and surmised that Republicans can’t stand Obama because he’s “eloquent” and “effective.” Mike Allen asked Pelosi if the hatred is more “personal” than normal. Pelosi threw out this argument for why the GOP hates Obama so much. “He has a vision for our country. He’s brilliant, has...